


You're My Present This Year

by SaintHeretical



Series: If God is For Us Verse [2]
Category: The Borgias (2011)
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Family, Holiday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-27
Updated: 2013-12-27
Packaged: 2018-01-06 07:41:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1104198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaintHeretical/pseuds/SaintHeretical
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucrezia, awakened by a strange thumping noise, decides to investigate whether Santa really is taking his sweet time on the roof of the Borgia family house.</p><p>Takes place five years before "If God is For Us." Just Christmas fluff, partly inspired by THAT Folger's commercial.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You're My Present This Year

December 25th, 2008

_KA-THUMP!_

Lucrezia scrambles up the large mound of pillows in her bed, eyes wide, startled awake by a strange banging noise coming from the roof. Her heart is pounding steadily, and her eyes quickly adjust to the pitch black setting of her bedroom. Grasping around her nightstand, she finally reaches her phone and slides it open to reveal the time.

_3:42_

“What on Earth...?”

_KA-THUMP!_

There’s a soft yet frenzied knock on her door followed by a quiet, “Lucrezia, let me in please!” It’s her brother Gioffre who, at only seven years old, is probably scared out of his wits by whatever is going on outside. Groaning to herself, she pulls on her bathrobe and pads over to her door, opening it softly.

Her brother’s pale, round face stares back at her. “Lucrezia...is it?” he asks reverently.

“No.” She doesn’t even humor his unsaid question for a second. “Don’t be silly. You know that there’s no such thing as Santa.”

He looks chastened as he enters her room, looking for her permission before sitting at the foot of her bed. “I’m not being silly,” he finally responds. “All of my friends say Santa is real.”

“Well, who do you trust, me or your friends?” Lucrezia counters. Gioffre is clearly stumped and chews on his lip as he thinks, his brow furrowing.

“I’m just saying...it could be Santa,” he theorizes, his voice low and even. “Just because you’ve never seen him doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist. You’ve never seen Jesus, and he exists.”

_KA-THUMP!_

The sound seems to be getting closer. Gioffre squeaks and clutches her arm.

“If it’s really Santa, then why are you being such a scaredy cat?” Lucrezia takes in a shaky breath and squeezes his shoulder. She scans her room, looking for something that may serve as a weapon _just in case._   “I mean, Santa’s supposed to be nice, right? If it’s Santa, then we have nothing to worry about.”

“... what if it’s _not Santa?”_ Gioffre breathes. “That’s super scary. What if it’s a robber?” He whimpers and buries his face into her pyjamas.

The two siblings huddle together on the bed, waiting for another sound to confirm their suspicions that s _omething_ is out there, something that doesn’t belong.

_KA-THUMP!_

“D’you think we should wake up Mama?”

“No, we can’t.” Lucrezia tries to minimize the wobble in her voice. “She had to take her pills tonight after her and Papa had their fight, remember?”

“And then Papa left to visit his friend,” Gioffre finishes. “So he can’t help us neither!”

“Well, where’s Juan? Is he awake?”

“I don’t know! I peeked in his room and he wasn’t there!” Gioffre bursts into blubbery tears. “We’re all alone, and the robber is going to kill us and eat us!”

Sighing, Lucrezia stares at the poster on the back of her door. Zac Efron dressed as Link Larken stares back at her, his normally handsome blue eyes appearing oddly sinister in the dim light. She shudders.  

_KA-THUMP!_

“I’m going to see what it is.” Staring Gioffre in the face, she nods her head with purpose. “I mean, I’m almost an adult now, and I should be brave enough to check it out.”

“No, Lucrezia, don’t do it!” he sobs, teetering over the edge into hysterics. “You’re only eleven, you’re too young to die!”

“I’m almost twelve,” she hisses back at him. “I’m plenty old enough to see what’s going on.”

She’s about to leave but, after looking back at her baby brother clutching her pillows in fright, she decides it would be safer to arm him of them just in case. After a quick search, she finds one of Juan’s old aluminum baseball bats in the corner of her closet and she decides that that will have to do.

“Please be safe,” he mumbles as she leaves. “Just yell if you need help.”

“I will,” she promises solemnly.

Their spacious house is strangely eerie in the winter moonlight. Small nooks and cubbies that are normally fun and exciting in the daytime transform into possible hiding places for monsters or robbers, and the normally short trek from Lucrezia’s bedroom to the side door feels more like a marathon.

 _KA-THUMP!  
  
_ Just to be sure, she peeks into the living room to check on the state of the presents and the tree. Sure enough, the stockings are all stuffed to their brims, the presents are laid, and ‘Santa’s’ cookies are probably long gone into Juan’s belly by now. If the mysterious thumping noise _is_ Santa, and she’s far too old to believe that’s so, he sure is taking his sweet time taking off from their roof.

_KA-THUMP!_

As she gets closer to the door, she realises that the noise isn’t coming from the roof like she initially believed. Instead, the thumping seems to be coming from the large wrap around deck outside of the house, and also seems to be accompanied by a rough dragging sound between each hit.

She’s just about to go outside and investigate when she hears someone talking outside. Their voice is only vaguely familiar to her panic addled mind, and she’s sure that there’s no visitors due to their house at four AM. Another voice joins it, also garbled by distance and the thick wooden door. Squeezing into the coat closet, Lucrezia presses her ear to the outside wall and listens.

“...third time this month I’ve had to clean this up, and it keeps getting worse. I swear, sometimes I don’t know WHO is the parent here. Last night it all started after the Christmas Eve service when she found the condoms in his suitcase a _s usual, a_ nd she said ‘Not again!’ and sort of lost it on him, but didn’t say a lot because of the kids, you know, and then he started yelling about stress and work and how the Reverend has him flying over to Charlotte all the time and he’s just fucking sick of it and taking it out on her _of course._ So, no, I’m not surprised to see him here, he was probably at Joanne Nugent’s place, you know she likes it dirty and _oh my fucking God_ , you’re letting his ass drag on the ground! That suit’s Armani, you know.”

“Well then lift up your side a bit more! Jesus, Juan, I’m carrying my stuff too, you know.”

“Cesare?” she blurts out, her voice echoing in the empty boot room. _It’s impossible. He said he wasn’t coming..._   

 “SHHHHH!” The dragging noise stops. “Did you hear that?”

“Oh fuck. Where’re we gonna put him?”

“Just SHUT UP!” There’s a lot more rustling, but by this time Lucrezia is positive that she knows who is making the mysterious thumping noise, and it’s neither Santa nor a murderous robber. Sliding her feet into her father’s too-big shoes, she runs out the door and races across the deck, her bathrobe trailing behind her like a cape. Rounding the corner, she collides with something warm and solid.

The scent of laundry and stale airplane and _him_ rushes up her nose and she squeals into his coat. She’s shaking with excitement and her heart is in her throat because _he’s here, he’s finally back, she finally has him back._

“I thought you wouldn’t be back for Christmas,” she whimpers into his coat. Moving to look up at him, she’s stopped by his hands burying themselves into her blonde curls. “Mama said you had to stay at school, she said you were too busy to come back, that you had papers.”

“I do have papers.” His voice is a rumble around her face and she grins, nuzzling further into his arms. “But I figured that there’s no harm in finishing them here. And I just couldn’t miss Christmas with my Lucrezia.”

She laughs and finally raises her head to look at him. He’s even handsomer than she remembers, all long eyelashes and high cheekbones and unruly brown hair. A new addition to his familiar face is the light layer of stubble currently covering his jaw line. “What are you trying to do here?” she murmurs, roughly rubbing his cheek with her hand. “Have you forgotten to wash your ugly face?”

“Hey!” he chastises. Catching her hand, he brings it to his mouth and kisses the back of it. “I’m a grown ass man now, and I figure it’s time I grow myself a beard.”

She giggles. “You sound like the Reverend.”

Cesare rolls his eyes. “Shoot me before it gets that far. I mean it. I haven’t really picked up an accent yet, have I?”

Shaking her head, she peeks behind him. “Where’s Juan? He was the one with you, right? What were you guys doing?”

“Oh, heh.” He grimaces at her. “Juan picked me up at the airport and when we came up the driveway there were a group of dead armadillos just hanging out in front of the house. We were dragging them up here to get them out of the way, and we figured we’d call wildlife control tomorrow if they’re open.” He chuckles. “We were pretty stupid looking. I was trying to carry all of my stuff plus an armadillo...we made so much noise. Oh, was that what woke you? I’m sorry, I was trying to be sneaky.”

He smiles sheepishly, but Lucrezia wasn’t born yesterday. She knows that armadillos aren’t that large and certainly don’t wear Armani suits, but she decides to let it slide because it’s Cesare and he’s _here._

“Who were you trying to kid?” she laughs. “You’re like the least sneakiest person in the world. You couldn’t be sneaky even if your life depended on it.”

“I’m hurt, my love! Now c’mon.” He reaches out and tweaks her nose with his thumb. “Let’s get inside and warm up.”

Lucrezia clutches his arm as they both walk into the house, one half afraid that he’ll disappear if she lets go. The other half of her, the half that she buries in the back of her mind and only lets out when she’s bored or can’t sleep, craves the physical connection between the two of them. When Cesare’s with her, she feels strong and whole and feels as though they can take on the world together. These past three months without him have been so _empty,_ so when she can finally hold him and breathe in his smell and stare at his face, well, she takes the opportunity and runs with it.

The dark, empty house, so scary only a moment ago, envelops the two of them like a warm hug. Cesare feels it and visibly relaxes as soon as they walk through the door. “I’ve missed this place,” he says, throwing his backpack onto the ground. He takes Lucrezia’s hand and pulls her onto the couch with him. “I’ve missed home. I’ve missed _you._ ”

“I’ve missed you too,” she replies, her voice suddenly very small.

“Oh, hey!” He grabs his bag and fishes out a small wrapped present.  Tossing it onto her lap, he adds, “I got this for you before I left school. I’m pretty sure it’s the perfect gift for you. I saw it and I just had to get it.”

Lucrezia turns the little box over in her hands, examining the pretty green and red striped paper. Finally she shakes her head. “I can’t open it yet. Not without everyone else. It’s not time yet. Besides...” She pulls off the bright red bow and sticks it to Cesare’s sweater. “I don’t need any other gifts. You’re my present...this year.”

He stares at her with one of his familiar, wide eyed expressions, the one that makes her heart melt and re-form over and over again. She bites her lip, suddenly nervous, her face growing progressively redder.

There’s a gasp. “Cesare! You’re home!”

It’s Vanozza and Juan, accompanied by Gioffre who throws the aluminum baseball bat onto the ground with a mighty ‘ _CLANG’_  at the sight of his older brother. Cesare holds her gaze for one final moment before he abruptly stands and embraces everyone else. Lucrezia remains on the couch, holding her package to her heart as she watches them hug and kiss and exchange stories.

Sure, it’s not the biggest or most expensive present she’s ever received, but having him here, her brother, her soul mate, her love...it’s totally the only present that will ever truly matter.    

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed my foray into Christmas land! I'll hopefully be back to my regular posting on IGIFU (I gif you?) by next Wednesday, January 1st, so keep your eyes peeled!  
> Also, feel free to tell me whether you enjoyed this little stint, and maybe I'll open up to some prompts in the future. Happy Holidays!


End file.
